Māori Language Revitalisation/Creativity

In 2015, I have been involved an initiative whose focus and goal is the revitalisation of the Te Reo Māori in Hauraki. It has been interesting for me to return to the world of Māori language revitalisation, one which has taught me a number of things - chief among them being a renewed respect for teachers of the Māori language. Teaching a language is an art form and just because one can speak the language does not necessarily mean that one can teach the language.  I'm a good example of this fact. So, great is a my mihi to those Māori language teachers out there.

There are those who, like me, speak the language but are not necessarily involved in Māori language revitalisation. With the recent move to establish a new Māori language governance entity, my vote is for those resources to go into the hands who are actually attending to the tasks of revitalisation, not those merely who speak it now and then. I agree with Tīmoti Kāretu when he says don't give the resources to the very communities who let the language diminish in their area, and in some cases, die. Rather, give the resources who those who are actually doing something about Māori language revitalisation. I wholeheartedly agree with this. I don't agree with handing our resources to iwi on some mistaken notion that every body ought to get proportionately theirs - instead of considering deeply the purpose of the resources and whether a person or a group are actually capable of delivering on that purpose.

One of the key ideas that I have come to is that, in an area like Hauraki, we are not revitalising an existing Māori language but rather we are creating a new language based upon what we know of the language of the past. Hence, I call this language creativity leading to language vitality. 

Also, I don't see language revitalisation as an end itself but rather a method or a process by which to build a community. I see tangata whenua community building as the goal in which Māori language revitalisation ought to sit.

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